Spirit Thief
by RoseAlchemist
Summary: Yoko and Kuronue find a young spirit girl and train her to be a demon thief.
1. Default Chapter

Koenma summoned Rei to his room and told her that she would be a member inthe search for the crimanals that had just stolen a preciuos treasure from hisvualt. She bowed after hearing the news and went to her room to prepare. Shewas inexperienced and had never had a chance to go on a mission before.

Demon World- the next day

Yoko and Kuronue ran through the woods after narrowly avoiding being caughtby the Spirit Guard. They had just stolen The Spirit Jewel from it's vault inKoenma's office.

"You still think we should have done this?" Kuronue asked nearly out of breath.

"What's wrong , Kuronue? This is just getting good." Yoko replied.

Kuronue looked back and saw that the spirits were falling behind but one singlegirl seemed to show no signs of stopping.When he looked forward again Yokowas gone. Then, an arm grabbed him from behind a tree and covered his mouth.

"Shhh!" Yoko hissed in his ear.

The single spirit was right beside them. She stopped floating on her oar (likeBotan, yes) and looked everywhere. She then noticed all the others were gone.

"Hey, where did everybody go? Hey guys, come back! I...Ahhh!"

Her voice was cut short when a huge panther looking creature jumped out ofa bush to her right. Kuronue and Yoko watched as it pounced on her knockingher to the ground. She tried to use her oar to block it but it knocked it awaywith a swipe of it's paw. Then it bit into her arm. the ground became covered with blood.

Kuronue jumped forward. "Yoko, we have to help her or she will be killed!"

"Did you forget she was trying to capture us?"

"But..."

"Fine. I will help her but if she captures us afterward its all your fault."

He looked toward the panther demon and soon it was held in the airabove the struggling spirit by a mass of vines.

Kuronue went to the girl and bent down to her."She passed out." he said.

"I can see that. Let's go." Yoko turned to leave.

" But we can't just leave her here. Please, can we take her. She's hurt and it

is kinda our fault." Kuronue pleaded.

"This is not what I meant when I said I would help. And it's her own faultfor following us!"Yoko thought Kuronue reminded him of a little kid begging for a new pet. He gave in. "Fine," He grumbled,"You can bring

her along anly until she gets better, okay?"

Kuronue nodded. "Right!"


	2. Meeting the demons

Rei woke up. She had a sharp pain in her right arm. She realized that she was wearing bandages. She looked around. She was not in her room; she was in a cave. It had beautiful paintings hanging on the walls, and the bed looked expensive , too.

'where am I?' She thought.

Then, she heard voices outside of the room.

"Is she awake yet?"

"I don't know. I haven't looked for a while."

"Come on. The last thing we need is for her to get out and cause us trouble or get attacked again."

"You seem worried."

"I'm not worried."

They both walked into the room and stopped when they saw she was awake.

"Well, she's awake. Now what do we do?" The one with fox ears asked.

Rei glared at them and growled, "Demons! I was saved by demons! How could I allow myself to be saved by you?"

"For one, you were unconcious. For another, you were bleeding badly. For another, you are a Spirit alone in Demon World." The one with wings told her.

The fox eared one didn't look happy about her being there either."I'm Yoko and this is Kuronue. "He turned and left.

"Yoko's like that. Don't worry, though. He's okay , once you get to know him. He has trust issues." Kuronue said.

"I don't want to get to know either of you." Rei hissed. "I'm leaving."

She sat up and tossed her feet over the side, but when she stood up she fell forward. Kuronue jumped forward and caught her.

"Don't touch me demon!"

"Sorry, but you fell." He placed her back on the bed. "I wouldn't try to get up anymore if I were you. You're too weak."

"How long has it been?"

"About three days, I think. You're probably hungry. I'll get you something to eat. By the way, what's your name?"

"I'm not telling a demon."

"Fine."

Rei didn't want to admit it , but she was hungry. When he came back with the food she ate it all. It was the best food she had ever had.

"It's good isn't it?"

She nodded.

"Yoko cooked it just for you , but don't tell him I told you, okay?"

"My name is Rei."

"So you're going to tell your name to a demon after all, huh?"

"Only because you helped me. You guys, your those thieves aren't you?

The ones on Spirit World's most wanted."

"Really? We're on the most wanted list?"

"So you are thieves. Is that where all this stuff came from?"

Kuronue looked around. "Yep." He looked proud."Oh, hey. I've got a great idea! When you get better you can come along. You may be useful."

"Huh? But I..."

Kuronue ran out of the room to ask Yoko.

Rei watched him go. "I am stuck with these demons. Why hasn't Spirit World sent someone yet? If it's been three days , they must know I'm gone. Where are they?"


	3. The kimono

Sorry it took so long. My computers been down and I have been working on a Fullmetal Alchemist story. It will be on here soon, so get ready!

Yoko had agreed with Kuronue and as soon as she got better they began training her. The first week was very hard. Harder than her spirit training.She had to run, swim, jump, duck, crawl, balance, and fight her way through several obstacle courses they had rigged up. They even had her fight some of their own men, but they told them to go easy on her. Eventually, they thought that she was good enough.

"Here." Yoko handed her a dagger with blood red rubies in the handle.

"What's this for?" She asked.

"You'll need something to protect yourself. Kuronue has his pendant and I have my plant powers as well as both of us are well experienced. You, on the other-hand, have nothing."

"I have my spirit powers!" She protested.

" Yes, but," He smiled at her coldly, " You're still young and don't know how to control them, do you? They won't help you and those demons won't hesitate to kill you."

"How do you know!"

"The day you and your little spirit friends tried to capture us. It was clear that you were new or we wouldn't have had to save you from that demon."

She took the dagger from him while giving him a glare.

Kuronue walked in and announced, "Get ready! Tonight's your first night!"

"What! Tonight!"

"Yeah, you didn't think that all that training was for nothing, did you? Tonight we picked an easy one; not many guards at all." Kuronue said.

"But..." Rei hadn't expected to actually rob anyone. She had always thought that she would be back in the Spirit World by then. She had only trained to get stronger so that she could fight demons and now, here thay were actually taking her along on a robbery.

"Oh, yeah I'll be right back."

Kuronue walked back out of the room. He came back in about two minutes later holding a black kimono. It was the most beautiful kimono Rei had ever seen. It even had a beautiful obi of the same color embroidered with red roses. She guessed they had stolen it from some wealthy demon. Kuronue handed it to Yoko who took the dagger and began slashing at the bottom of the kimono, ripping away the material. Rei gasped.

"What's wrong?" Kuronue asked.

"Why are you ripping up that kimono? It was Beautiful!"

"Huh? We're not. Look."

Yoko held it up. He was finished and had laid the dagger on the bed. He had only ripped away the bottom part of the kimono.

"It's your new thief clothes. You can't expect to be able to do anything in what your wearing now. This is what you will wear." Yoko said handing it to her. " Go change it's almost dark."

A few minutes later she met them at the entrance to the cave. She was wearing the kimono. He had ripped it to where it would be exactly above her knees. He was right, she could move around more freely. In the Spirit World, they were taught never to show their legs. All the female spirits wore long kimonos down to their ankles. She was a little embarassed.

"Good, That's much better than what you were wearing." Yoko commented.

" Yeah. You'll do much better in that and it looks beautiful on you." Kuronue said.

Rei felt herself blush.

Kuronue handed her the oar that she had been riding. " We'll run but you can probably keep up better on that."

"Thanks." Rei was actually beginning to like these demons.

They turned and began running and she followed behind on an oar. She was about to go on her very first robbery with them.

Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it. Please review and I'll write more!


	4. The first robbery

Hi! Here's another chapter and I'll be posting the Fullmetal Alchemist story real soon. I already have about eleven chapters down on paper but I still have to put them in the computer.

Yoko and Kuronue led her to a huge mansion. She stood outside the gate looking up at it. It seemed to be even bigger than Lord Koenma's castle in the Spirit World.

"Don't worry. To be so rich, they don't care much about security. They hardly have any guards at all." Kuronue explained.

Yoko nodded."Yeah you think they'd learn."

He jumped up over the fence with Kuronue right behind. She flew over on her oar.

"You might want to leave that here." Kuronue said."It would probably be easier if you ran." He took it and hid it in some bushes growing near the gate."You can get it as we come back through."

"Just follow our lead." Yoko said.

She did. When ever they ran, she ran. Whenever they jumped, she jumped. She was always just a little behind Kuronue. Soon, they were inside the house. It was even bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. It was filled with all kinds of expensive looking things. Yoko and Kuronue led her toward the back of the house. There was a huge tapestry hanging on the wall.

"What's this? A dead end?" Rei asked.

"Watch." Kuronue instructed.

Yoko grabbed the tapestry and pulled it back to reveal a door. The door had a huge lock on it. Kuronue held the tapestry back while Yoko got to work on the lock. In only one minute he had succesfully cracked the lock. Rei was impressed.

"Introducing Yoko, the lock master!" Kuronue said.

"Also introducing Kuronue, the annoying sidekick" Yoko said before disappearing into the door.

"Hey!" Kuronue followed him.

Rei laughed and followed them in. The room had a safe sitting in the middle of it. Yoko walked right up to it.

"That's it? No traps?" Kuronue asked."Not even any guards?"

"Guess they weren't expecting anyone to crack the lock." Yoko said.

"Still, last we were here they had traps." Kuronue seemed to want to run into a trap.

"Do you like traps or something?" Rei asked.

"Yeah. They're fun to get out of!" Kuronue smiled "You might need more training though."

"Got it!" Yoko held up what he had been trying to get out of the safe the entire time. He held up a black crystal attached to a silver chain.

"What's that?" Rei asked.

"It's called the Shadow Crystal. It's very powerful."

"What's it doing here then?"

"This demon is very rich and was probably able to buy it off of someone who didn't know its power."

"But what does it do?" Rei asked.

Then an alarm went off. "I'll explain later! Come on!" Yoko bolted out the door.

Yoko, Kuronue, and Rei ran down the hallway to get back to the door. They turned down a hallway and ran into some demons and imediately took a different route. They ran into a real dead end. Yoko opened a window and climbed out onto the roof. Kuronue followed and turned to help Rei. She began to climb through and took his hand. He started to pull her up when a demon grabbed her leg. Kuronue almost dropped her when the demon pulled on her. She struggled to get loose and ended up kicking the demon in the face.

"Are you okay?" Kuronue asked.

"I'm fine, Let's go." She replied.

There were demons on the roof too. They had had the same idea Yoko had. Some of them had weapons. One demon had bows and arrows which he repeatedly fired and missed. One arrow did come close to hitting Rei's leg though. Yoko jumped right off the roof and when Rei hesitated Kuronue picked her up and carried her down.

They made it back to the front gate without getting hurt. Yoko and Kuronue jumped over and Rei grabbed her oar and flew over. They stopped about halfway back to the cave for rest.

"Well, that was the most fun we've had in a while." Kuronue said."We actually saw some action that time."

"That's because normally we have a large group of people. This time, we only took Rei."

"Hmm. Guess so. We should do that more often."

"Wait. You mean you actually have a band of thieves?"

"Yes. Not too many. Just a few of the best demon thieves."Yoko said.

"How come I haven't seen them?"

"Because only Kuronue and I live in that cave. The rest of the thieves only come when we send a message for them."

"So your like their leader?"

"Yoko is the leader and I'm second-in-command!" Kuronue said proudly."We've been best friends forever so he chose me for second-in-command."

"Don't flatter yourself. That also means your the second best thief." Yoko said.

"So I guess I should consider it an honor to be staying with you two and getting my training from you, right?"

Yoko looked surprised."If you want to, yes."

Kuronue looked at her. "Just about a week ago you didn't even want to tell me your name because I was a demon and now you consider it an honor to live with us?"

"I guess I changed my mind. Maybe demons arn't so bad after all. I was just always taught that they were."

"You can't beleive everything you hear. But we are more violent than humans and spirits and a little different so I guess there would be stories." Kuronue said.

"Guess so."

"Let's go home." Yoko said.

Yoko, Kuronue, and Rei went home. Rei had forgotten all about going back to Spirit World.

Hope you liked it! Please review and if you have any ideas for what should happen I'd like to hear them. I get most of my ideas from my dreams so I'm sorry for anything weird now or in the future.


	5. What does the Shadow Crystal do?

Okay. I'm back! I havn't been able to update for a while now. Sorry! Anyway I'll try to update more. Oh, and when I said that Rei had forgotten about the Spirit World, I meant only for the moment because she was having fun with Yoko and Kuronue. Some people got a little confused over that. Sorry!

Rei woke up the next morning to find Yoko and Kuronue talking. She guessed that they were talking about her because when she walked in they stopped and looked at her.

"Well, I'll go make breakfast now." Yoko announced, getting up and walking out of the room.

"What was that about?" Rei asked looking at Kuronue accusingly.

"Nothing!" Kuronue replied cheerfully.

"Yes it was! Now tell me! What were you two talking about!"

"We have another spot picked to rob tonight and Yoko doesn't know if your ready or not." Kuronue told her.

"But...Why not?" Rei was hurt.

"It will be much harder than the house last night and we'll be taking more of the demon theives and I don't think Yoko wants them to know about you yet either. Spirits arn't very popular around here."

"Can't he just tell them I'm a demon?"

"No."

"Why?"

"You're a Spirit. They'll know."

"How? How will they know!"

"You know..."

"No! No I don't know now tell me!" She demanded.

"Well, for one you don't look like a demon. And you dress funny."

"I dress funny! What about you! Look at your hat! A witch hat with no top! You call that normal! And you have belts all up your arms! Yeah, that's normal!" Rei yelled.

"Ouch." Kuronue said taking off his hat and looking at it. "You really think it's that weird?"

Rei laughed when Kuronue told her Yoko made him wear it.

"Besides that," Rei had calmed down a bit," what else makes me stand out?"

"Your smell."

"My smell? What do you mean my smell?" Rei asked looking confused.

"Demons have a really keen sense of smell. They'll be able to tell your a Spirit from a mile away." Kuronue explained.

"Really? I never knew that."

Yoko called them to come and eat. She walked into the dining room. It was a medium sized room with only a big table(big enough for at least eight), some chairs , and a few paintings hanging on the wall. All stolen, of course

Yoko had made some kind of weird meat and some salad. Rei didn't dare ask what kind of meat it was. She just ate it. Yoko always sat at the head of the table with Kuronue on his right side. She normally just sat across from Kuronue. when thay all three finished thay went back and sat in the room at the front of the cave.

"Ummm... Yoko?" Rei began.

"Yes. What do you want?"

"I've been wondering, what exactly does the Shadow Crystal do?"

"The Shadow Crystal can turn its user invisible as well as paralyze opponents." Yoko said reaching down and pulling at a string hanging around his kneck. He pulled the string up and revealed the Shadow Crystal hanging from it.

"Then how did demon like that get it and why wasn't it guarded better?" Rei asked.

"He probably got it from a dealer for a low price. Chances are he just got it because it looked pretty and neither of them knew what they had."

"I knew it was important but I didn't know it could do that!" Kuronue said looking amazed.

"'Watch." Yoko stood up and held out the crystal. It glowed dark purple and then he was gone.

"Yoko? Where'd you go?" Kuronue looked around.

"I'm right here." It was Yoko's voice but they couldn't see him anywhere. Then, Kuronue's hat floated off and there was another purple flash and Yoko was holding Kuronue's hat. Yoko put it back on Kuronue's head. "How's that for power?"

"Amazing!" Rei cried.

"Not to change the subject but Yoko, Rei really wants to go with us tonight. Can she?" Kuronue asked.

"If she wants to come, she can but I'm not slowing down for her."

"Thanks Yoko." Rei said excitedly.

Yoko turned and walked out of the room.

Well, hope you liked it. I'll try to post more soon but it could take a while. Try to be patient and thanks for reading.


	6. The bird demons

Yaay! Another chapter. That was quicker than usual. I need a few ideas so anyone want to help? I'll appreciate it! Oh, and I've already got an idea of what it will be and asked my friend and everything but should it be a YokoxRei story or a KuronuexRei story. My friend told me it should be a KuronuexRei one because hardly antbody does love stories for Kuronue so...Anyway here's the story!

Rei went to her room to get ready. She wasn't nervous;she was more excited than anything. Yoko and Kuronue had told her it would be hard but had also trained her. Then, as she thought about this she hit herself in the head for liking them so much already. She still had to find a way to get back to the Spirit World.

"Rei!"Kuronue's voice called from the mouth of the cave."Are you ready yet?"

"Coming!" She replied running toward the entrance.

When she got there Kuronue grabbed her and pulled her to the side. "Listen Rei, there's a lot of demons here so don't get scared or anything. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

"Of course I want to go through with it! I'm not a coward! I've had some of the best spirit training there is and you guys taught me how to be a thief an your the best there is! You're right at the top of the Most Wanted List!" Rei screamed.

"That's very flattering. The very top of the Most Wanted List?" Kuronue asked.

A young blue-skinned demon with pointy ears and black hair came up behind him. "Hey, Kuronue." He said in a whiny voice,"Who is she? How come you didn't tell me about her?Huh? Why?"

"Yomi, get back out there with the others and get ready." Yoko's cold voice ordered.

"Yes sir." Yomi ran back outside and began helping some other demons get ready to go.

"I'm glad you can get rid of him, Yoko. I swear if you weren't around I'd die." Kuronue said.

"You wouldn't die. You're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself." Yoko replied.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Kuronue retorted.

"Come on. Let's get ready." Yoko changed the subject.

They led Rei outside through a crowd of strange-looking demons that she had never even heard of or seen pictures of before. The thing that made it worse was that they were all staring at her as she passed. None of the demons even dared try to attack her because she was with Yoko and Kuronue and they knew they couldn't win that fight.

Rei was still staring back at the demons when Yoko and Kuronue stopped and she crashed into Kuronue, who almost fell but managed to catch himself and her before they crashed into Yoko. Yoko was completely unphased by all of this.

Rei looked behind Yoko to see a large bird demon. Yoko pointed to it, "That," He said, "Is what we will be riding to the next house. I suggest you get used to riding it because when we have to travel long distances we ride them. A lot of the places we rob are far away for safety reasons. In other, words we ride them a lot so we don't have to walk."

It looked basically like a bird, as far as feathers go, but other than that... it had a head and neck like a dragon and legs and feet like a dragon. It had big leathery wings like a dragon, too. It's tail was long and feathery.

"This red one here is mine," Kuronue pointed out,"the green one over there is Yoko's. Go on. Pet her. This one's nice."

She reached out to the red one and stroked it's feathers. She shrieked when it licked her hand and Kuronue laughed at her.

"This after all that 'I'm not scared of demons' talk earlier."

"Well, I'm not. It just surprised me, that's all."

"Right." he said sarcastically.

"It's true!"

"Time to go!" Yoko's voice called out, ruining their arguement.

"Time to go? Now?" Rei panicked.

"It's okay. Come on, you're riding with me." Kuronue jumped up on the bird demon and reached down to help Rei climb up behind him. "Hold on!" He warned.

Kuronue gave a low, short whistle and the bird took off. She screamed and grabbed him around the waist.

He laughed."I told you to hold on. Maybe Next time you'll listen."

"How did you do that?" She asked.

"These birds respond to whistle commands." Kuronue explained.They're specially trained that way so that if they fall into enemy hands they won't be able to control them."

"That's very clever." Rei commented.

"It was Yoko's idea."

"What do the different whistles mean?"

"A low, short whistle means take off and a high, short whistle means to land. A low, long whistle means to turn to the right and a high, long whistle means to turn to the left. It's really not that hard."

"Could you teach me how to control them later, Kuronue?"

"Sure."

"Look at that!" Rei stared down at a beautiful blue lake.

"Yes, it's a lake. A common sight"

"But it's really pretty isn't it?"

"I guess. Do you want me to take you there one day?"

"That would be fun!"

"Okay. I will."

"Thank you, Kuronue!"

He didn't say anything. She decided to stop talking and just watch the scenery. After the lake thay passed countless forests and fields, but nothing too special. There was an occasional hill or mountain and once Kuronue almost crashed into a tree on a particularly large mountain but that was about it. There were a few little villages along the way scattered around but it was nothing like the big cities in the Spirit World. Rei guessed it was because of all the wars nad criminals and thieves that the villages didn't get too big. Then, Rei felt a little guilty because here she was helping those theives. She also got a little homesick.

Kuronue snapped her out of her thoughts when he announced, "We're here!"

Rei looked down. If she thought the last house was huge this one was a giant. It was by far twenty times bigger. Even the shingles on the roof seemed to cost more than the last house. They landed their birds about twenty feet away in a well-covered area and waited for Yoko to give them their orders.

I do believe that is my longest chapter so far! Hurray for me! Thanks to everyone who reads. Please review.


	7. The second robbery

Okay. Here's the next chapter. Sorry about the wait. Yeah, I don't have much to say so...Here's the story.

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Yoko's plan was to sneak into the house from all sides. They were to divide into teams and each team go in through a different entrance and take out any security the house might have. As everyone was getting ready and picking teams, Yoko walked over to them.

"Kuronue, you and Rei are with me." Yoko said when he reached them.

"Right."

"Is everyone in their teams?" Yoko asked loudly, turning toward the demons.

"Yes!" All the demons replied.

"Move in!" Yoko ordered.

The demons all ran toward the house going in the directions Yoko had given them. Yoko, Kuronue, and Rei were the last to go. They were sneaking in the front. When they got to the house, it was Yoko who acted first. He stared at the house for a minute before picking the most conveniant way to get in; through an open window. Yoko jumped through it.

Rei looked at Kuronue. "Isn't it odd that they would just leave the window open for us?"

Kuronue shrugged and followed Yoko. Rei sighed and was the last one to get in.

The inside of the house was even more beutiful than the outside. There was a huge fireplace that seemed to be made of gold. The chairs were all of leather and a type of fabric Rei had never seen before but looked expensive. The walls were outlined in gold and everything on the tables was rare looking and in glass cases. Rei even recognized a few treasures from Spirit World.

Rei realized that Yoko and Kuronue were already going down the hall and rushed to follow them. When she caught up. Yoko was looking around a corner and Kuronue was waiting nervously. Yoko looked back and motioned for them to come quietly. There were four guards standing down the next hallway. All of them had their backs turned. Yoko and Kuronue both ran out at the same time. Yoko neatly sliced two in half and Kuronue had somehow made the other pass out. The fourth one had noticed and was coming at Kuronue, who had his back turned. Rei took out her dagger and ran toward the guard cutting his head off. Kuronue turned just in time to catch Rei , who felt a little sick as the blood splashed on her.

"Thanks Rei."

"Yeah..." She looked down at the guard and almost fainted.

"They must have something hidden around here." Yoko said and began putting his ear to walls and knocking on them.After about five minutes he stopped and looked at the wall in front of him. "I knew it. Here it is."

He took out some kind of plant and aimed it at the wall. The plant grew long vines and ripped the wall down. There was a dark hole in the wall with a safe in it. Yoko took the safe and in a few seconds, had it unlocked. He pulled out a bag and looked inside. Then he carefully placed the bag in his pocket and turned to them.

"Let's go. I got what I came for."

Kuronue nodded and Yoko turned the way they had come. The other theives were already at the clearing. They all had big bags of treasure. Yoko ordered them to take off. Everyone ran to their birds and prepared to leave.

Kuronue helped Rei up again. Yoko took off first and then the rest of the theives. Kuronue was last. The birds didn't seem to want to fly. They were scared of something. They had flown about ten feet when the first boom happened. The wind started to blow and it started pouring rain. Kuronue could barely control the bird and they soon lost sight of the others. A big bolt of lightening startled the bird and it veered down. It crashed into the trees and threw Kuronue and Rei from it's back.

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A cliffhanger! I'll write the next chapter soon. Please review.


	8. Lost!

Sorry, about the long wait for the last chapter. I really didn't think that the last chapter was that good, but I got a lot of reviews saying that it was. Thanks! I didn't want to leave everyone on a cliffhanger so...Here's the story.

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The startled bird threw them into the woods. Kuronue and Rei crashed through the branches and landed on the forest floor. Kuronue was flung against the trunk of a tree, but Rei was lucky enough to land in a bush. She pulled herself up and found that she only had a few minor cuts and bruises; pretty good for falling from that height. Kuronue was lying a few feet from her not moving.

"Kuronue! Are you okay? Kuronue!" Rei knelt down and rolled him over. He didn't seem to be breathing. She shook him roughly.

"Oww...Stop!" He pushed away from her and sat up. "Are you always so rough?"

"I thought you were dead!"

"Thanks. So, are you okay? Did you break anything?"

"No. I'm okay. What about you?"

"Nah. I'm okay." Kuronue stood up and looked around. "But we do have a problem; I don't know where we are, which means I don't know how to get back."

"Can't you just use your nose to sniff out the way they went?"

"I'm a bat! Not a dog! Besides no even a dog couldn't sniff the way back. They were in the air."

"Oh." She had thought that all demons had good noses. "We're lost."

"Bingo."

Kuronue got up and turned toward the way they had been going. Rei noticed his wing and gasped.

"Huh? What? What's wrong?"

"Your wing! It's...!" Kuronue's right wing had a gash down the middle. Some blood was still trickling down falling in a puddle by his feet.

"Well, now how did that happen? Rei, don't look at me like that. It doesn't hurt,really. I have no nerves in that part of my wing." He pointed up a bit."But if that cut was here..."

"But it still looks bad. I know! Here." She ripped the bottom part off of her kimono and wrapped his wing in it."That's better but I bet you can't fly."

"I wouldn't be able to carry you anyway. Even if I don't feel it I still couldn't use it to fly."

-------Later-------

Rei took the fruit from Kuronue. It was black with purple spikes sticking out of it. She eyed it cautiously. Kuronue sat down beside her and took a big bite out of his.

"Are you sure this is safe to eat? I mean,...Look at it. It looks like it could attack me and win."

Kuronue started to laugh. "Yeah, you would be the one to get killed by food." She glared at him."Uh...Yeah, it's perfectly edible. Just don't chew or swallow the seeds. They will kill you. The seeds are poisonous."

Rei took a timid bite. It was really sweet. It tasted like an apple but mixed with something else. Something tangy. She found a seed and quickly spit it out.

"So, do you like it?" Kuronue asked.

She nodded, taking another bite. "It's really good. What's it called?"

"You won't find any where you live. It's called a Makai Fruit. It's called that for a reason; they only grow in Demon World."

"Oh." She was dissapointed. She had wanted to try to plant some back home.

"Of course," Kuronue continued, "No one's ever tried to grow 'em anywhere else. Not many people come to Demon World and if they do they don't normally make it out." He picked up some seeds and wrapped them in some black cloth."Here. Take them when you go home and plant them."

She nodded happily and took them. She tucked it securely inside her kimono. That's when she realized that she hadn't been planning on going home.

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Well, there you go. I cleared up the cliffhanger! And you guys don't know how sorry I am it took so long to post this. I can't put it in words. My computers power supply got in a little accident and didn't work. It took us forever to find a new one. I'm so sorry. Anyway, I am celebrating my 15th birthday on October 3. Yaay! I'll be fifteen! Anyway, I'll try to post the next one soon...unless something else happens 'cuz it always does. But I am a bit of a writer's block so it actually could take a while because of that. If it takes too long, I'll post another story I've been working on, even though, I didn't want to post it until it was finished. Oh well, Bye!


	9. Find them

Okay. Here's the next chapter. I don't have much to say...Uh...Yeah...Here it is.

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-Back with Yoko-

Yoko and the rest of the thieves had made it back. They were now sorting it out and dividing it evenly. Yoko took his, Kuronue's, and Rei's shares and added them to the piles of treasure in the cave. Someone came up behind him.

"Pretty good heist, eh Kuronue?" He turned to find that it was not Kuronue but Yomi. "Yomi! Where is Kuronue?"

"Uh...Well, they...When we were going over that forest the storm frightened their bird and they fell. Kuronue and the Spirit Girl."

Yoko grabbed the demon by his shirt and picked him up."You saw them fall and you didn't tell me?" The young demon nodded. Yoko was outraged. He threw him down and said, "Organize the others. Tell them that we are going back to find them."

Yomi pulled himself up. "Yes, sir." He began to walk out when Yoko's voice stopped him.

"Oh, and Yomi."

"Yes, sir?"

"If we don't find them you are the one that will pay."

The young demon trembled as he stepped out of the cave. Getting threatened by Yoko was not a pleasant experience. He called out telling the others to prepare to leave.

-In in Spirit World-

"Lord Koenma, sir!" A young blue-haired Spirit Girl, not much older than Rei, called out.

"What is it, Botan?"

"We have just received a report saying that a new member of the Spirit Guard, named Rei I beleive, went to the Demon World a few weeks ago with the Spirit Guard and has been missing ever since. This could be very bad, sir."

"Two weeks! Why didn't this reach me sooner? Find her! Send out anyone you can. If anything happens to her Father will have my head! She was under my command." He sweated thinking of the terrible things his father would do to him.

"Yes, sir!"

The Spirit Guard was sent out to find their missing member accompanied by a few other spirits from random places. Even though she was young she still knew the secrets of the Spirit World and if a demon got those...

-Back with Yoko-

Yomi had assembled the thieves quite quickly with Yoko's threat hanging over him like a dark cloud. They were almost half-way now to the area where Yomi had seen the two go down.

Yomi suddenly stopped his bird and turned it back toward the others. "Here." He announced.

Yoko was about to give the order to go down when a movement in the distance caught his eye. Some dark shadows were in the air with them and were coming steadily closer. As they got closer their colors of pink and light-blue gave them away as the Spirit Guard. The others noticing where he was staring turned to look as well.

As the demon thieves saw the approaching Spirit Guard, chaos broke out. They scattered. Birds flying in all directions, until Yoko was the only one left in the sky. He looked calmly at the Spirit Guard.

He gave his bird a whistle and it began to descend into the trees. He lept lightly off before it ever touched the ground and shooed it away. It would come back to him and it would be hard for them to find him now that he wasn't on it.

He took a few steps and froze. Kuronue and Rei were sitting against the tree in front of him. Rei was asleep with her head resting against Kuronue's shoulder and Kuronue had his arm wrapped around her. Yoko walked up right in front of them before saying anything.

"Sorry to interrupt the cuddle party but we need to get out of here." He said loudly.

They both jumped and Rei pulled away from Kuronue. "Hi, Yoko." She said innocently.

"I organize my thieves to look for you and all I get is a 'Hi, Yoko'? Nevermind. Come on, we've got to go. Now."

"Why?"

"You can stay here and get captured by the Spirit Guard, but I'm not."

"Are they looking for me?" Rei asked.

"That may be the case. In any case, if we're captured you'll be better off."

"I'm not going with them."

"What?" Kuronue looked shocked. "I thought you wanted to go home."

"I've decided I like it better here and I want to stay with you."

"We don't have time for this." Yoko ran off, forcing them to follow him or lose track of him. They followed.

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Rei and Kuronue are finally getting closer. But what will happen next? Keep reading and review to find out.


	10. It's a trap!

Okay. Next Chapter! I am trying to update a lot since I have a few devoted fans out there. Thanks.

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The Spirit Guard had seen the demon fox before he had gone into the woods. They spread their numbers out so that they could capture him. The leader had recognized him as Yoko, one of the thieves on the Most Wanted List. He was also the last one seen with Rei, which meant that he might be holding her somewhere planning to use her to negotiate something or that he had just killed her. He and some others landed and entered the forest on foot; weapons drawn. The rest split up and hovered above the forest in various places.

-With Yoko, Kuronue, and Rei-

"So, Yoko, where are we going?" Rei asked , breathing heavily.

"I should think that would be obvious. Away from the Spirit Guard."

"Well, I knew that but-" She was cut off by a yell.

"There they are!" A blue-haired boy called out. Others came from all around him, pointing their weapons at the demons and the girl.

"Yoko..." Kuronue began.

"I know." Yoko raised his arms and a wall of vines suddenly grew between them and the spirits. Then, he whistled.

-With the Spirit Guard-

The Spirit Guard above the forest heard a high pitch noise from below. They looked at each other in confusion. Then, two large birds came flying up from somewhere near the edge of the forest. The Spirit Guard taken by surprise quickly unleashed a rain of arrows at the birds. The birds were hit several times but only one went down with an arrow in its wings. The other flew pointedly toward the area in the forest where the whistle had come from. Before the spirits could get more arrows ready, it had dissapeared into the cover of the trees.

-With Yoko, Kuronue, and Rei-

Rei jumped in surprise as she saw a bird coming down but calmed down when she saw that it was Yoko's red bird. He jumped onto its back and looked down at Kuronue and Rei. Kuronue looked at the sky and then looked back at Yoko.

"Come on. She can carry all of us."

Kuronue helped Rei up and then climbed on. The bird took off. They rose up and came out of the trees a few feet from the Spirit Guard. The startled spirits stared at them for a few seconds. Then Yoko turned the bird around and they left.

"Yoko, we can't lead them toward our hideout."

"I'm not. Don't worry. I have a plan."

Kuronue looked behind them."Yoko, they're catching up."

Then suddenly out of nowhere, some of the Spirit Guard appeared in front of them. Yoko barely had time to bring the bird to a stop before it collided with the spirits in front of them.

"Give it up demons!" A cocky spirit said aiming an arrow at them.

"You arn't going to get away!" Another said.

Yoko swung the bird to the right but more spirits were there. He turned in all directions but they were completely surrounded. He smirked and brought the bird into a dive. A net was set up just under the canopy of the trees and they crashed into it.

"It was a trap!" Kuronue said, trying to get out of the net.

The spirits above them threw something down that began smoking with a strange-smelling gas. They all blacked out.

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Yeah! Another cliff-hanger. Don't hurt me!


	11. Hikari and Fuyu

Next chapter! Warning: contains randomness.

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Rei woke up in a warm room on a soft bed. She put her arm over her eyes to shield them as she sat up. Someone gasped from beside her.

"Rei! You're okay!"

"Bo-Botan? Where am I? What are you doing here?"

"Oh! I'm so glad you're okay! We all thought that we would never get you back from those demons!"

"Where are they? What did they do with them Botan?"

"Oh, don't worry. Those demons won't be bothering you anymore. Koenma's got them locked up tight in the Undervaults. They are to be sentenced to death."

"The Undervaults?" The Undervaults were the prison cells deep under Spirit World where the most powerful demons were kept. No demon had ever escaped and all the demons down there were either going to be executed in front of all the spirits or were left to rot. "Wait a minute! Death! When are they going to be executed?"

"Koenma hasn't made up his mind yet and he has lots of other work to do first. Oh, that's right! I was supposed to tell him when you woke up! Bye Rei." Botan rushed out of the room and down the hall, leaving Rei speechless.

Yoko and Kuronue were being held in the Undervaults. It would be no easy matter to get them out. Rei sighed and looked around her room. She realized that she was still wearing her theiving kimono. She ran her fingers over the roses embroidered in it and her fingers caught the handle of the dagger Yoko had given her. She couldn't just let them die. She stood up and peaked into the hall; No one. She walked slowly down the hall glancing around to make sure she wouldn't be caught by anyone.

Then, she realized how stupid she was being. She had been with Yoko and Kuronue too long. She didn't have to worry about getting caught. This was Spirit World and she was a spirit. She didn't have to sneak around like a thief. She sighed and walked toward the room of the one person she knew might help; Hikari.

Hikari was a spirit, but she was the most unique. The Spirit Guard had been too boring for her. She loved to fight and was the only spirit who wore pants. She had become a mercenary. She was paid by humans, spirits, and even demons to kill demons. She had a scar across the left side of her face from a battle with a thunder demon. And she had a secret that only Rei knew; Fuyu.

"Hikari?" Rei asked knocking on her friend's door.

"Who is it and what do you want?" Hikari answered. Her usual reply to a knock on the door.

"Hikari. It's me, Rei."

"Rei..." The door opened and Hikari stood there looking at her. "Well, what do you know. It is you." Hikari grabbed her arm and pulled her into the room shutting the door behind her.

"Hikari. I need to ask you something."

"Wait a minute, first you have to tell me and Fuyu how you managed to survive. This should be an interesting story. Little Rei survived for over a month with two of the most powerful demons in Demon World." Hikari grinned and dropped onto her bed. "Hey, Fuyu! Ya coming out or what?"

Fuyu crawled out from under the bed. He pushed his sea-foam green out of his crimson eyes. "Hiya."

Fuyu had to hide because he was a demon. An Ice Demon to be exact. Hikari had found him over a year ago and had kept him in her room ever since. He came up to about Rei's chest and she could tell he was kinda young. She had never found out his age. Rei was the only person, besides Hikari, who even knew Fuyu existed. Rei could still remember the day Hikari had first found Fuyu.

Hikari had been contacted by a rich demon to take care of a thief who was robbing him and the village around his castle. Hikari had agreed and went to take care of it. It was in a wintery area where snow was always falling. The demon, she had discovered, was an Ice Demon. She had slain it quickly and taken back what it had stolen.

She unwrapped the package it had taken and had discovered it to be only food and a blanket.

Then, she had heard a whimpering, like a child crying. She located the sound coming from a nearby cave and discovered Fuyu. It was later that she had learned that the rich demon had used her to do his dirty work. Fuyu and his older brother, the demon she had slain, were the last remaining members of The Winter Demon Clan. The Winter Demon Clan had gotten into a disagreement with the rich demon over the land which rightfully belonged to them and the demon had had his warriors to kill them all. They had missed two. Hikari, instead of killing the young demon, had taken Fuyu. That had been over a year ago and Fuyu had adapted well to the Spirit World, although he still couldn't let people see him.

Rei was brought back to reality by Fuyu's voice. "Are you gonna tell us a story?"

"It's the least you could do. We thought you kicked the bucket. Come on, fill us in."

Rei sighed and looked at both of them. "The truth is...I didn't really want to come home. I wanted to stay in Demon World."

"Wha-!"

"Listen, Hikari." Rei quickly interrupted. "I need you to listen. I know you'll understand. That's why I came here. Please, just listen."

Hikari nodded. "I'm listening. Let's hear it."

Rei took a deep breath. "Those two demons didn't exactly take me hostage or kidnap me or anything else. I realize now that I had lots of chances to escape. And they didn't lock me up in a dark room either; they trained me. They taught me how to be a thief. They taught me a lot. They weren't very mean either. Well, Yoko could have been nicer...but Kuronue was okay. They didn't act like the demons we're taught about. They were like...like Fuyu. Well, not exactly but...You get what I mean, right?"

Hikari nodded slowly and looked down at Fuyu. "So you're saying that they're your friends, right?"

"Yes."

"And what exactly do you want me to do?" Hikari asked suspiciously, already knowing the answer.

"Help me get them out." Rei stated bluntly.

"You do know how hard it's going to be and what will heppen if we get caught, don't you?"

"Yes."

"And you still want to do it?"

"Yes."

"Well...All righty then, but it's gonna cost ya extra."

"I'll pay you whatever you want."

"Okay. Then, it's settled. Let's go."

"Now?" Rei hadn't expected to go so soon.

"It's your lucky day. Koenma's having an important meeting to decide what to do with those two since he couldn't decide on his own. All the guards are there. That means no one is guarding the passage into the Undervaults. We can easily get in."

"He has all the guards there? What an..." She cut off her sentence. Spirits were not supposed to make fun of Koenma.

"Wow. Those demons sure did teach you something."

Hikari walked out of the room with Fuyu and Rei following. "Fuyu, just make sure that no spirits see you, okay?"

"Yeah."

-With Yoko and Kuronue-

After waking up in a jail cell and finding Yoko in a bad mood, Kuronue had began drawing patterns on the floor with a rock. Soon he had the entire floor covered. Yoko looked at him irratably.

"You're easily amused, arn't you?" He asked.

"Guess so." Kuronue replied, adding the finishing touches to his 'art'.

Yoko's ear twitched and he looked away. Kuronue looked at him and knew that he was trying to come up with a way to escape.

Kuronue layed on the floor facing toward the door. Across the room, a demon was in the other cage. Kuronue soon realized that it was dead. He started to look away when a movement caught his eye. A little boy was looking at him. But not just a boy, Kuronue could tell that he was some sort of Ice Demon. The boy walked back out of the vision of the cell and came back with two spirits. One was Rei and the other was a strange looking spirit with a scar on her face.

"Yoko? Kuronue? Is that you?" Rei asked, coming closer.

"No, it's not us." Yoko replied.

"Yeah, Rei. It's us." Kuronue replied, glancing back at Yoko.

"I'm assuming the fox is Yoko." Hikari said.

"You got it."

"So this guy is Kuronue?"

"Yup.

"Okay boys. Here's the deal. I break you guys outta here and you pay me. Of course, it's gonna be a little extra, since this is the Undervaults I'm breaking you out of and you are demons."

"Pay you?" She had Yoko's attention now.

"I'm a mercenary. I don't just do things for free of because it's the right thing to do. I do things for money."

"Wait. You're a mercenary? I've never heard of a spirit mercenary."

"That's because no one lives to tell the tale."

"Then, who's that?" Yoko pointed at Fuyu.

"Oh, that's Fuyu.

"But isn't he a demon."

"Yeah."

"I thought you said no one lived to tell the tale."

"They don't"

"Then why is he-"

"Anyway, we're here to save you. So, let's get you outta there."

"I'll do it myself." Yoko said.

"No. That won't be possible."

"And why not?" Yoko challenged.

"No demon-and I mean no demon- has ever escaped from the Undervaults. There have been demons far more powerful than you in here. See that demon over there." She pointed to the corpse Kuronue had noticed." That was once the most powerful demon in Demon World. Even more powerful than you, Yoko. He was captured and placed in here. Of course, now he's just a rotting corpse. The same thing will happen to you; to both of you. Now, will you let us help you or not?"

Yoko gave in. "Fine."

"Good. I need both of you to come as close to the wal as you can without touching it."

"What will happen if we touch it?" Kuronue asked.

"That wall is made of pure spirit energy. If a demon touches it, it will drain them of their powers. We need your powers. In other words, don't touch."

Fuyu looked up at Hikari."Hikari, do you need my powers too?"

"Yes, Fuyu. We need yours too."

He smiled.

"Okay. Everyone. In order to break this wall we all need to concentrate our energy on it. And as soon as it's open enough you two need to get through quickly. It won't stay open and our powers won't last forever. Got it?" Everyone nodded. "Ready, go!"

Rei concentrated all of her energy on the wall. It didn't seem to open. She tried harder and saw everyone else doing the same. Then, a tiny hole appeared. It began to get bigger and bigger. Finally, it was big enough for Yoko and Kuronue to climb through. Yoko was first and Kuronue right after. Kuronue had barely made it. The hole had began to close rapidly once Yoko had gone through.

Rei hugged Kuronue. Hikari and Fuyu gave each other a high five. Yoko 'Hmph'ed.

"Well, they're out. Rei. You know where to find me for my payment." Hikari took Fuyu's hand and walked away.

Rei waved and turned toward Yoko and Kuronue. "Let's go."

"Yeah. I've been in here long enough."

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Yeah. That was a long chapter. It took me along time to write because of school, homework, and other things. I'll try to post again soon. If I can. Die homework! Stabs homework with a dagger Ughh! I hate homework!


	12. Hikari?

I'm baaaack! Here's the chapter.

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Hikari had gone back to her room dragging Fuyu behind her. She shut the door behind her and sat on the bed. "Well, that was fun."

Fuyu sat down in the corner and bagan drawing a picture. He loved to draw. Actually, he was quite a little artist. She had many of his pictures in protective cases. With Fuyu drawing, Hikari decided to take a nap.

She was woken up by a knock on the door. It was hard and urgent. Before she could even get up, the door was flung open. A spirit stood there looking at her.

"There is an emergency! The two demons have escaped! Hikari, Lord Koenma wold like for you to go after them. The Spirit Guard is out on another mission right now and he feels that you would be the best person to track them down. Will you do it?" She was out of breath.

"It's okay. Tell him okay."

The spirit bowed and ran off.

Hikari looked at Fuyu frozen in the corner. "Lucky she didn't see you. She was in such a hurry."

Hikari layed back down on her bed with her arms folded behind her head and stared at the ceiling. Fuyu came and sat beside the bed looking at her.

"What are you going to do?" He asked.

"I don't know Fuyu." She turned her head to look at him."What's more important? My prince or my best friend?"

-With Yoko, Kuronue, and Rei-

They had made it back to the cave. They were all sitting in the 'living room' on the couches.

"I'm really glad you two got out of there!" Rei said happily.

Yoko looked at her for a second before getting up and walking off.

"What's wrong with him?" Rei asked.

"Ah, Yoko's just mad because he couldn't figure out a way to get out of there." Kuronue said. A shoe came flying and hit him in the head. "Hey! That hurt!"

Kuronue got up and went in the direction that the shoe had come from. Rei heard a series of crashes, glass breaking, yells, booms, and thuds. Then Kuronue came back looking more than a little beat up.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." He put his hand to the back of his head. "Dang, he won again."

Rei got up and went into her room. "Good night, Kuronue."

"'Night"

The next morning, they were all sitting in the living room again. Rei jumped when a familiar voice called her name. It wasn't Yoko or Kuronue, it was...

"Hikari?" Rei got up and went to the cave entrance.

Hikari was standing there with two travel bags giving her a peace sign. Fuyu was beside her.

"What are you two doing here?" Rei asked.

"I have a more important question." Yoko said walking up behind Rei."How did you guys find my cave?"

"All questions will be answered." Hikari said matter-of-factly." But first, are you guys gonna invite me in or stare at me all day?"

Rei looked at Yoko before saying, "Come on in, Hikari, and Fuyu."

Hikari walked right in and sat down where Yoko had been sitting. Fuyu followed slowly behind her and sat down on the ground beside her chair with his legs crossed. Rei claimed her chair and Yoko stood and glared. All the chairs were taken.

"Get up." He ordered Hikari.

"No."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I said get up. Now. That is my chair."

"Make me." She grinned at him.

Rei got up and offered Yoko her chair before the arguement got out of hand.

"So, as I was saying before Fox-boy over there interrupted: I will be staying here for a while."

"What did you do, Hikari?" Rei asked in a worried tone.

"I disobeyed Koenma." She said it like it was nothing but disobeying Koenma was one of the worst things a spirit serving under Koenma could do. "Well, he wanted me to hunt these two down and lock them up again."Yoko and Kuronue gave her suspicious glances. "Oh no. I am not about to do that. Rei likes you guys too much. Though, I don't see why. Anyway, I'll be hanging out here a while since I can't exactly go back to Spirit World. They'll lock me up if I go back and I decided I could come stay with you."

"No. You can't stay."

"Sure I can. Right, Rei?"

"Uhh...Hikari I don't-"

"Fine. Then, it's settled. I'm staying."

She grabbed her bags and dropped them in the nearest empty room with a bed she could find. Then, she returned and smiled.

"And that's that."

"Now, wait just a second! Who do you think you are? To just walk in here and declare that you're staying! This is my home! Mine! And I want you out! Go!"

"Aaah...What's wrong Fox-boy? Somebody step on your little tail?"

"Uhhh...Hikari." Rei said getting up.

"Yoko, calm down." Kuronue said standing up.

They both grabbed their friends and pulled them away from each other. Kuronue was eventually able to calm Yoko down and Rei dragged Hikari off to her room.

"Hikari...Yoko's right. That was very mean of you."

"Awwww. Come on, Rei. It's the only way he would have let me stay and you know it."

"You could have just asked." Rei said sighing.

"And you actually think he would have let me if I just walked up and said, 'Please, Yoko. I need a place to stay. Can I stay here?' Yeah right!"

"I could have convinced him to let you stay."

"Huh...You've got some way with these demons. How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Ughh...Never mind."

"Okay...?"

-Meanwhile with Yoko and Kuronue-

"Come on. Let her stay. It won't be so bad. Besides, she's Rei's friend."

"I will not let her stay. You saw the way she talked to me. She's leaving."

"Yoko...Hikari is the one that got us out of there." Kuronue said accusingly.

"I could have gotten out of there."

"You and I both know that's a lie."

Yoko was silent. Then, he turned. "She can stay. But, this is the last time I will let anyone stay."

Kuronue went to talk to Rei and Hikari while Yoko went to bed.

"Hey, Kuronue." Rei said as Kuronue walked in.

Kuronue had found them in the room that Hikari had chosen as her own. "I need to talk to you."

"I know. I have to leave. I can't stay here, right?" Hikari said getting up to grab her bags.

"No. I didn't say that." Kuronue took her bags from her and sat them back down. "Sit down."

Hikari obeyed and sat on the bed staring at him.

"Yoko has agreed that you can stay. But this is the last time he is letting anyone stay. Ever." He looked directly at Hikari." You need to be a little more polite around him. He might change his mind. Understand?"

Hikari nodded.

"Thank you, Kuronue" Rei jumped up and hugged him.

Kuronue turned pink and Rei let go. Hikari watched curiously.Kuronue turned and left.

"Want me to help you unpack?" Rei asked.

"Huh? Uh...Yeah. Sure. Thanks."

After a few minutes they had all of Hikari's stuff exactly how she wanted it. Rei had managed to get Kuronue to drag an extra bed in for Fuyu, since he wouldn't have to hide anymore.

"Hey, Kuronue?"

"Yeah, Rei?"

"Do you think that Yoko will train Hikari and Fuyu to be thieves like me?"

"Maybe...But I'm not sure."

"Don't worry about it. I'm a mercenary, remember? I make my own money."

"Yes, but...People pay you to take care of demons and stuff for them right?"

"Right."

"Those same people, if bribed with money from the Spirit World, would swiftly give up information on you. If you want to hide from the Spirit World, that would be a job to steer clear of."

Hikari sat silently, thinking. He was right, of course. Everything he had said was true.

She stood up suddenly and bowed to Kuronue. "Will you please teach me to be a thief?"

"Kuronue, if Yoko doesn't want to teach her maybe we can." Rei said hopefully.

"Fine. It's one problem after another." Kuronue sighed. "We'll start your training tomorrow."

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Well, was that any good? I think my last two chapters have declined in quality. Well...That's how I feel anyway. Ughh...It's great when I'm typing but when I read over it, it doesn't sound that good. -Sigh- Oh well. I guess it can't be helped.


	13. I like it here

Yeah. I might as well write the next chapter before I run out of ideas. I have been posting a lot lately. Better keep it going. Heh.

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Hikari was put through the same training as Rei was. She did pretty good in most of it bacause of her mercenary training but there were some things that Rei had been better at. Yoko hadn't liked the idea of another spirit girl on his theiving crew, especially if it was Hikari. Fuyu was also getting training. He wasn't as good as either of the girls but he was good enough and with experience he could get better.

After a bit of training, Kuronue called them over to eat. Yoko had made the same food that Rei had first ate in Demon World. Hikari and Fuyu seemed to like it too.

"Okay, I'll admit. It's really not so bad here. There are criminals but other that it's pretty nice here. Everyone in Spirit World always makes it seem so horrible." Hikari said.

"What are you talking about? Demon World?" Kuronue asked.

Hikari nodded.

"But Hikari you've been here before." Rei said confused.

"Yeah but I never got to just sit back and enjoy it before. I was always watching my back or on the look out for my target. I never got to relax."

"I guess Demon World's okay." Kuronue said. "But the truth is that Iv'e never really thought about living anywhere else. It's fun. Being a thief, I mean."

-Later that night-

"Hurry up!" Rei yelled running around the corner, ducking just as an arrow flew straight at her face.

They were on Hikari and Fuyu's first mission. They had been trained for about a week, a little shorter than Rei but still okay. They had just stolen the Lunar Pearl. It was a beatiful creamy, white stone. It hadn't been guarded too well but there were a few guards and they were causing a bit of a problem for the inexperienced thieves.

"Hikari!" Fuyu cried, running faster as a guard jumped out from a door they were passing.

Hikari turned around and threw one of her throwing knives at it, neatly slicing its throat. Fuyu jumped as some of the blood splashed on him.

"Come on, Fuyu! Keep up!" Hikari yelled, grabbing his hand and pulling him down the hall.

Kuronue and Rei noticed that the two had fallen behind and went back to help them. Yoko, of course, continued. Kuronue and Rei killed a few of the closest demons and gave Hikari and Fuyu some time to get away. Once the two made it through the window, Kuronue and Rei followed. They made it back to the cave in one piece.

"That was fun." Hikari said. "Honestly, being a thief is harder than being a mercenary. How do you do it?"

Rei laughed. "Is it really that hard?"

"Yes. When I have a target, I at least don't have to sneak around. I can just charge right in. With being a thief, stealth is major." She sighed and sat back in the chair.

"I never thought of it that way."

Yoko held up the Lunar Pearl. "Where should we put it?"

"With the other things we've stolen, of course. It would look good next to the Shadow Crystal."

Yoko walked off toward his room. The treasure room was beyond Yoko's bedroom. You had to go through Yoko's room to get to the kitchen and then through the kitchen was the treasure room. Rei had thought that this was strange at first but then had learned that Yoko was the only one who ever went into the kitchen anyway. He prepared all the meals and they always ate in the living room. Yoko was also the main one that went into the treasure room. Kuronue went in there sometimes and Rei had been in once or twice but that was it. Yoko arranged and organized all the jewels and other things they had stolen. He had protective cases for the ones with special powers.

"So at least it was successful."

Yoko walked back in. "Now, I have a question for her." He pointed at Hikari. "She never told us how she managed to find our hideout." He turned to Hikari."How?"

"Well, actually it was easy. I just stuck Rei with of these." She held up a small object that was flashing light blue.

"What's that?" Kuronue asked.

Rei immediately ran her hands over her kimono. She found it stuck to the back of her kimono, right below her neck. "Hikari!"

Hikari giggled. "You should have been paying more attention."

"I didn't think that I would have to watch my back around a friend!"

"You're too trusting. Lucky for you, I consider our friendship more important than taking orders."

Rei sighed.

"So what is that thing?" Kuronue asked again.

"It's a Spirit Tracker." Hikari replied. "I put this on someone and if they don't pull it off or lose it somewhere, I can track them down. It's really useful. The Spirit World uses this on demons that pledge their loyalty to us to make sure that they don't go back on their word. If they kill one human then..." She moved her hand across her neck in a cutting gesture.

"Oh."

Hikari gave him a peace sign. "No worries, bat-boy. They didn't think to put trackers on you. They were planning to kill you so they didn't think they would need to track you."

-The next day-

Hikari was lying on the branch of a tree looking up at the clouds crossing the sky. She was thinking of what she had done. Was it the right decision? She sat up and looked down at the base of the tree. Fuyu had followed her out here and was napping in the shade of the tree. He was loyal and always followed her choices but if she made a bad choice...it affected him too. She climbed down and sat beside Fuyu.

"Fuyu?"

"Huh?" He looked at her sleepily.

"Do you like it here?"

"What?" He rubbed his eyed with his arm. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean, do you like it better here or back in the Spirit World?"

"If I had to pick it would be..." He thought for a minute looking at her."Here. I don't have to hide all the time. It's okay if someone sees me." He smiled. "I like that. I don't wanna have to hide my whole life."

"I'm glad to hear that, Fuyu."

"Why did you want to know? Are you thinking of going back? If you go back, I'll go with you."

"No. I'm not going back. I just wanted to know what you thought. I think I did make the right decision, after all. Good."

"I'm hungry. Can we go eat now?"

"Yeah. Come on. Let's go see if Yoko's finished dinner yet."

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So, how was it? Not so great. I know. It's been a while since I last posted. Sorry.


	14. I won't tell

Here's another chapter.

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Hikari and Fuyu returned to find Rei waiting for them.

"Where were you?" She demanded.

"What? We're not allowed to go for a walk?" Hikari said.

Rei sighed. "It's just that you didn't tell anyone where you were going and we got worried."

Rei pulled the two into the cave and sat them down on a chair. "Just tell us next time. Okay?"

Yoko and Kuronue walked in. Yoko noticed Hikari and turned around.

"Well, the strays have returned, I see."

"Really, there was no reason to get so worried."Fuyu said.

Hikari laughed. "You guys sound like my mother!"

Kuronue, Rei, and Fuyu laughed too.

Yoko came in carrying two plates. He handed them to Hikari and Fuyu."Here. Your dinner. We've already eaten."

"Thanks, Yoko."

Hikari and Fuyu finished their dinner quickly and then they went bed.

-Spirit World-

Koenma slammed his fists down on his desk. " You still havn't found them?"

"I'm sorry, sir." The frightened spirit whimpered.

"Find them! Look harder!"

"Yes sir!" The spirit ran out of the room.

"Koenma..." Botan whispered from the corner of the room.

"Yes...I know, Botan."

"I can't beleive that a spirit would turn against the Spirit World like this. I thought Hikari might but I never expected someone like Rei...Look on the bright side, sir. At least there are still a lot of spirits here that do serve you." She showed him an unconvincing smile.

-In Demon World-

"Get it off! Get it off!"

"Calm down, Rei. It's just a little spider." Kuronue assured her picking it off of her and setting it down on the tree it had came from. It crawled away quickly. "See. It's more scared of you than you are of it."

"I seriously doubt that." Hikari laughed.

"I hate spiders!" Rei screamed. "I hate 'em!"

"Careful, Rei. There are more around here and there could be a spider demon somewhere. If they hear you they could come and get you while you are sleeping."Yoko stated.

"Stop it!" Rei covered her ears with her hands and starting singing.

"Well, I'd say that it's time to go." Yoko said getting up from where he was perching on a rock and walking back toward the cave.

Hikari, Fuyu, and Kuronue followed him leaving Rei sitting under the tree singing to herself. It took a few minutes for Rei to notice that they had left her. When she had they were halfway to the cave. She followed them at a run yelling for them to wait. They stopped when she was a few feet from them and started laughing.

"What's the matter? Not going to finish your song for your fans?" Kuronue joked.

"Ha ha, very funny."

-Later that night-

Rei, Fuyu, and Hikari all sat in Rei's room talking. Yoko and Kuronue had both gone to bed and Rei and Hikari had decided to stay up gossiping. Fuyu joined them.

"No way! You mean you like him? You really like him?" Rei asked Hikari surprised. "I don't believe it!"

"Shh! They might hear you!"

"I would've never guessed." Rei said in a lower tone." You don't really show it."

"That's because I don't know if he'll return the feelings. I can't just tell him. You know how he is."

"Yeah...It _is _him. But that's so cute! You've finally found a guy that you like."

"Too bad he's a cold-hearted fox demon, right?"

"He's not that bad."

"Well, anyway, what about you and Kuronue? You two like each other don't you? I can tell. You two make a great couple."

"What? What makes you think that I like him?"

"It's obvious. The way you act around him, the way you look at each other, and...you're turning pink!"

Rei had felt the color coming to her cheeks and covered her face. Hikari smiled at her victoriously and Rei turned even more pink."Fine. Maybe I do like him a little bit," She admitted.

"A little bit? You like him more than that!"

"Drop it! Besides you like Yoko!"

"Yes, but I will admit to liking him. Come on, Rei, just tell me. It will just be between friends. I promise I won't tell him or Yoko." Then Hikari looked at Fuyu and jumped on him. "But you will have to go! Out spy!"

"Hey! What did I do? Get off!" Fuyu struggled to get out of Hikari's firm grip.

"You'll run off and tell Yoko and Kuronue as soon as we say."

"No I won't! I promise! Let me go!"

Hikari smiled and let go. "Well...If you promise. I know you wouldn't tell anyway."

Rei laughed. She knew that was the entire point of it anyway. "Fine. Maybe I do like him more than a little but I swear if he finds out and I find out that you told him I'll make both of your lives miserable. Deal?"

"Deal." They both said.

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That's it. Chapter over.


	15. The lake

Wow. This story has gotten farther than I thought it would. Okay, here's another chapter.

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"Kuronue stop it!" Rei screamed as another wave of the cold water washed over her."That's really cold!"

Kuronue had decided to take her to the lake today. It was two days after she had admitted to Hikari that she liked him and Hikari had been excited when Yoko had asked her if she wanted to come along to the lake with him. So they were all here at the lake enjoying themselves. Since they had been given two days notice Rei and Hikari had gone shopping in a nearby demon village to get bathing suits. None of the demons had bothered them. Yoko later told them that that was probably because word had gotten out about the two spirit girls who had come from Spirit World and joined Yoko's theives.

A kind-looking demon woman had ushered them to her small shop asking them what they needed. When Hikari had responded with bathing suits, the lady had rushed off to the back and returned with two perfect bathing suits and some swim trunks for Fuyu. They had gratefully paid her and left the store admiring their new clothes. Rei's was a dark purple one piece with black shoulder straps. Hikari's a rose red bikini with flowers on it and Fuyu's was a pair of seafoam green swim trunks.

Rei splashed Kuronue back and dived into the lake before he had a chance to get her back. She swam to the far side of the lake where Hikari was relaxing on a float. She swam under her and surfaced on the other side hoping that Kuronue hadn't seen her.

"Oh no, Rei. Don't bring your water war over here!" Hikari said pushing the float away from her.

"Oh come on. Why did you even wear that if you're not even going to get wet?" Rei dove and went under the float where she pushed with all her weight to flip it.

Hikari fell with a splash into the water and came up coughing. "Rei! I'm going to get you for that!"

Rei laughed and swam away with Hikari chasing her. Hikari dove under and swam along the bottom so that Rei wouldn't notice her. When Rei stopped to look back and see where she was, Hikari grabbed Rei's ankles and pulled her under. Rei kicked and broke free of Hikari's grip and struggled to the surface to get some air. Kuronue was a few feet away from her laughing. Hikari swam over to him and he gave her a high five.

"Oh, I see. So this is a conspiracy."

They both looked at her as she pushed some wet hair out of her face and began laughing again. Rei slapped some water toward them but it didn't reach them. She sighed and climbed onto the shore. She wiped some of the water off with a towel and sat to dry out in the sunlight.

"Oh come on, Rei. You're not getting out just because we splashed you a little, are you?" Hikari asked swimming up to where she was sitting.

"No. I just felt like it was time to get out. Besides, arn't you hungry?"

"I guess so."

She turned around to yell at Kuronue and Rei jumped on her, knocking her underwater. Rei surfaced and began to swim away from her.

Hikari came up coughing. "That was cheap, Rei."

"Got you!"

"This is war! Let's get her Kuronue!"

"That's not fair! I don't get a partner!"

"Yoko's over there. Go get him." Rei advised.

Rei doubted that he would even come in the water, much less participate in a water war. She swam over to the fox-demon. He was sitting in the branches of a tree growing on the edge of the lake, watching them with an amused look on his face.

"Yoko, arn't you going to swim?" Rei asked.

"No."

"Then, why did you wear your swim trunks? Don't you want to join us?"

"I'm not going in."

"Please. It'll be fun."

He shook his head.

"Yoko!" Hikari was calling him. "Hey, Yoko! Come on in! It's really no fun without you. Rei doesn't put up much of a fight."

He shook his head. "No."

"I bet he's just scared. You can't swim can you, Yoko? And even if he came in there's no way that he can beat us in a water war, right Kuronue?" Hikari said just loud enough that Yoko could hear her.

One of his fox ears twitched. He couldn't exactly step down from a challenge. He jumped down from the tree. "I won't get any peace until I get in, will I?"

"No." Rei and Hikari said in unison.

"Fine." He climbed into the water.

"Yaay! I get a partner!" Rei cheered.

"Let the war begin!" Hikari screamed.

A few hours later, they all sat on the shore drying off with their towels. Hikari and Rei sat beside each other while the guys went to pack up their stuff.

"You only won because Yoko used plants."

"You never said he couldn't." Rei pointed out.

"Never mind. It was just for fun, anyway. We never would have had a chance to do this back home, huh?"

"No way, not with Lord Koenma ordering us around all the time. Fuyu wouldn't be able to join in, either."

"Where did he go anyway?" Hikari asked.

"He went to help Kuronue and Yoko pack up."

"Rei, don't you miss home? Just a little bit?"

"Of course I do, but we can't exactly go back now, can we? Not after we helped them escape."

"You've been out here a lot longer than I have, though. You must be feeling even worse than I am."

"Rei! Hikari! Come on. We're leaving." Kuronue was calling them.

Rei and Hikari ran over to where Kuronue and Yoko were waiting.

"You two really are useless. You didn't even help clean up your mess." Yoko said, before climbing onto his bird. Hikari jumped up behind him.

Kuronue helped Rei up before he jumped on. "It was our mess too, Yoko."

The birds took off and they headed back toward the cave.


	16. Discovered?

Another chapter.

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"Sir! We believe that we have found the location of the missing spirit girls and the demons." A flustered spirit reported to Koenma, almost two months since they had escaped Spirit World.

"Well, let's hear it. Where do you think they are now?" Koenma sighed. Just a few weeks ago they had said the same thing. It had been a false alarm.

The spirit blushed, remembering that incident, as she pulled out a report and began to read from it. "A young scout was out yesterday in the southern region of Demon World. While there, she was flying over a large forest. She heard voices and hid in the branches of a nearby tree. A pair of large bird demons with riders flew by. They matched the descriptions of the birds from last time. Dragon birds, she called them."

"Go on." Koenma ordered impatiently.

"She had the sense to follow them. They led her north for somewhere around 150 miles before turning to the east and continuing for another 72 miles. They set the birds loose and entered a cave concealed by various plants. She beleives that to be their base."

"Is that all?"

"Umm...Koenma, sir. She voiced a concern. About the girls."

"What is it?"

"She beleives that instead of being captured by the demons...they went with them by their own choice. They were laughing with the demons and appeared to have just come back from swimming."

"That's impossible."

"But, Lord Koenma," Botan took the report and looked over it, "it is possible that the girls helped them escape. It makes sense. No one has ever escaped, but if they had outside help..."

"Yes, yes. I see your point. I'll get someone to look into that. For now, we'll leave the demons alone. Only until we sort this out."

-Meanwhile-

"I don't know."

"Come on, Rei. Tomorrow is your birthday, right? What better time to tell him you like him. A boyfriend for your birthday." Hikari laughed. "Wouldn't that be nice?"

"What if he says that he doesn't like me?" Rei asked nervously.

"He won't say that. Trust me."

"But-"

"Rei, he likes you. I can tell. It's obvious that you like each other but neither one of you will come out and say it. It's a classic you like him, he likes you, but you're both afraid of rejection. Just tell him and see what happens."

"Fine. But if I tell him, you have to tell Yoko."

"No way."

"But you're making me tell Kuronue." Rei pointed out.

"For one: it's not my birthday."

"So."

"And besides that, Yoko doesn't like me. I like him but..."

"Now who's afraid of revealing their emotions and being rejected?"

"I-I...With Kuronue it's different. We both know that he'll say yes, but with Yoko...he doesn't really show his emotions that much. I'm not sure if he likes me or not."

"Only one way to find out."

"I can't argue with that but..."

"I know. I'll have Kuronue ask him."

"No! I'll have to do it myself. I'll ask him. Happy?"

"Very."

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Well, with Rei's birthday coming up and the Spirit World closing in on their location, who knows what's gonna happen next.


	17. Confession?

Well, I got a lot of umm...threatening reviews to update and now I feel bad for not updating in so long. I never think of it. Sorry. So, here's another chapter. Enjoy.

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"It is?" Kuronue almost fell out of his chair. "Are you serious?"

Hikari nodded. "Yup. I don't lie."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner? We're gonna need decorations and presents and..."

"Cake!" Fuyu added to the list.

"A cake! We'll need a cake with candles! What's her favorite flavor?"

"Vanilla." Hikari immediatly answered. "She has a white cake with vanilla icing every year for her birthday and invites all her friends...oh."

"Friends?"

"Well, I guess this is enough people for a fun party...maybe. I'm sure she won't mind not having a lot of people."

Yoko walked in yawning. "Could you stop shouting about this nonsense so early in the morning?"

"Yoko! It's Rei's birthday! We've got to get party supplies!"

"Am I supposed to care about her birthday?" He yawned again. " I just want my sleep back."

"But Yoko..!"

"Here's an idea. You guys go get the supplies and I'll go back to bed. Rei always sleeps late so I'll get a few more quiet hours to sleep, at least."

Kuronue looked at Hikari, who gave a thumbs up sign. "The way I look at it, he just gave us permission to party. Let's get going."

They took one of the demon birds into town and seperated to look for the right party supplies. Hikari would handle the cake and snacks becasue she knew what Rei liked. Kuronue was going to gather up decorations.

"Let's see...Vanilla...Vanilla...Ah! Here we go! It's perfect. It's even got little roses on it. How cute." She signalled to the baker that that was the one she wanted and waited for the demon to wrap it for her.

"Hikari. What about this?" Fuyu held up a bag of something that resembled a chip bag but Hikari read the labeling carefully, after he had chosen a bag of fried rats and some other roasted thing that she wasn't even sure what it had been, she had learned to read the labels.

"Looks like some kind of wierd trail mix...fruit, peanuts, and eye of...human!? Eeugh!" She dropped the bag on the ground. "Isn't there any normal food here?"

Fuyu poked the bag with the tip of his shoe. "I'll go look for something else."

"Don't get anything that's in a strange-looking bag." Hikari yelled after him.

Hikari turned and payed the demon. She picked up the cake and began to follow Fuyu before turning and asking, "I don't suppose this cake has anything...wierd in it, does it?"

"Depends on what you mean." The demon flashed her a grin, baring unusally sharp teeth.

"Umm...you know..human, uh...things like that."

"Nope. That cake's made the human way. Just doesn't taste right with demon ingredients. The humans knew what they were doing on one thing at least." He laughed a growling laugh that turned into a coughig fit.

Hikari forced herself to smile and walked after Fuyu. She found him staring at something on a tall shelf that he was too short to reach. She handed him the cake and reached up to grab it. It was a bag of regular chips. Not demon chips, regular chips! She hugged it to her. There was hope of good food after all. For the next hour she went through the different stores gathering what normal food she could find. Looking at all the strange food made her wonder what Yoko had been feeding them...

-With Kuronue-

"...Or this...or this...or maybe this...oh, she might like this. Yes, yes. This would be nice. Oh, how about this, dear? Yes, your right. You'll need this too." The water demon rushed around Kuronue piling him with so many decorations that he couldn't see her much less move.

"Umm...Do I really need all this to throw a girl a birthday party?" He asked, blowing a ribbon out of his face.

"Dear, a girl's birthday is one of the most important day's of the year for her, you know? Trust me, she'll love you after this. "

"She'll..."Kuronue cut off the sentence as the demon went back to piling him down with decorations.

"Where could he be? Fuyu, do you remember where he said he was going to get decorations?"

"Nope."

"Great. Rei'll be awake by the time we get back. If she is, I'm kickin' his-"

"Hikari. Help..."

Kuronue's hand reached out from a pile of ribbons, banners, and other decorations ot grab Hikari's arm. She grabbed his hand and pulled him out as the oblivious water demon continued to make the pile grow.

"What do you think you're doing? We don't have time to fool around!"

"I wasn't fooling around. I was getting advice but...maybe she wasn't the best choice..."

"...What about this? Yes. It's a nice color. Oh! And you'll need this of course!"

"Hmm...Come on. I'll help you find decorations."

"What about her?" Fuyu pointed to the water demon still picking things out and throwing them into the pile.

"Leave her. She's having fun." Hikari grinned and walked away.

Fuyu shrugged and followed her.

Hikari swiftly picked out the supplies she thought they would be needing and handed them to Kuronue and Fuyu. Kuronue was glad that she didn't pick nearly as much as the water demon from earlier. She suddenly turned around and Kuronue almost ran into her.

"Now," Hikari began,"for the final and most important thing...the presents!"

"But...what should we get her?" Kuronue asked.

"Whatever you think she wants..." Hikari waved her finger at him. "No cheating by seeing what I get her." She ran off dragging Fuyu behind her.

It was a half hour later when they finally went back to the cave to find Rei still asleep. Hikari had the entire cave decorated by the time she woke up and the food was set up. Rei walked in rubbing her eyes. She sat down in her chair and yawned.

"Good morning." She said, yawning again.

everyone stared at her waiting for her to notice something. It took a few minutes before she asked, "What's all that?"

Yoko's ear twitched and Kuronue fell out of his chair. Hikari sighed and Fuyu giggled.

"What's wrong?" Rei asked looking around at everyone.

"Umm..." Kuronue shrugged and looked at the others.

"This is going nowhere." Yoko got up to leave.

"What?" Rei was getting confused.

"Happy birthday, you idiot." Hikari smiled and gave her friend a peace sign.

"My birthday? You mean this is..."

"A party." Kuronue finished for her. "Yeah. It was Hikari's idea."

"He helped of course." She glanced at Kuronue. "...but not too much. Got it? I did most of the work so the credit goes to me."

"How modest." Rei laughed. "Well, anyway, thanks everyone. I wasn't expecting a party or anything. I'm just glad someone remembered."

"By the way, the credit goes to me for that one too." Hikari pointed at herself. "Go on. Praise me. I saved the day...again."

"Thanks, Hikari." Rei said with a laugh and gave her friend a hug.

"Well..."Hikari hissed in her ear as they hugged.

For a minute, Rei had no idea what Hikari meant. She stared at her, puzzled. Hikari mouthed the words, 'tell him' and Rei realized what she meant. She had promised to tell Kuronue that she liked him. She looked at him and realized she was already turning pink. How could Hikari expect her to do this? What would she say? What would he say?

She saw Hikari grab Yoko's arm and guide him toward the table where the cake was sitting. She pointed and started talking to him. Rei sighed and turned back toward Kuronue. If Hikari could do it, she could.

"Umm...Kuronue..."

"Yes?"

"I...Ummm...I've been meaning to tell you something for a while...Umm...Heh. I guess since it's my birthday...It's a pretty good time..maybe." She broke off and looked down at her feet. She wrung her hands and tried to think of what to say next.

"What is it, Rei?"

"Kuronue, I...I like you. Well, more than that but..." She was just glad she had managed to say anything. She waited for his reaction. 'Please...please. Let him like me too.' Her heart was racing.

"Rei..." He pulled her close to him. "I didn't know..."

"Does that mean that you don't feel the same way?"

"I do but I wish I wouldv'e known how you felt sooner. That's all."

"Sorry..." She looked up at him. "Hikari was the one that convinced me to tell you or I would've been too scared to...I didn't know what you would say."

"But you told me...That's what matters."

She nodded happily. "Yeah."

"And now to get back to the main course of events...the party." He kissed her on the cheek as he walked back toward the table the presents were sitting on.

She watched him holding her hand on her cheek for a while before following him, smiling. It had worked out after all.

Hikari was still talking to Yoko in a low voice so Rei couldn't hear anything that was being said. Kuronue gave her a small box. It was wrapped in black paper.

"From me." He stated simply.

She looked back toward Yoko and Hikari and then back down at the box. "Shouldn't we wait for them?"

"Nah. Go ahead. I want you to open it now. They can see it later. Looks like a serious conversation."

She pulled on the edges of the paper to keep it in one piece. Kuronue waited patiently. When she had one entire end open she opened it and let the box slide out into her hand. It was a brown, cardboard box with no pictures or writing on it. She undid the top and opened it. Inside there was a small velvet box. She opened it and there was a small purple amulet with a black bat inside. She picked it up and held it in front of her face. The bat seemed to move as if it was alive. Kuronue grinned.

"So...? Do you like it?"

"Of course I do. It's beautiful!" She stared, mesmerized by the small bat. "How did you...?"

"It wasn't easy to find, you know. Took me a lot of work to track it down. One of the only ones of it's kind."

"The bat's adorable. How does it move?" She held it up. No mistake. The bat definatly moved.

"It's linked to my energy. It'll move as long as I'm alive. See? It really is unique and I made it even more so." He was quite proud of himself. "It'll remind you of me."

Rei laughed and put it around her neck. She clipped it in the back and let it fall. The chain was just long enough to hang above the neck of her kimono. It was warm as it touched her skin. She clasped a hand over it and looked at Kuronue. A thought suddenly forced itself into her mind.

"Why did you get me something like this before you knew I liked you?"

"Uh..."He scratched his head. "Truth is...I was kinda hoping that you did like me. I was gonna give you that and..."

"You mean you were gonna tell me you liked me today? Even if I didn't?"

"Something like that."

"So, I didn't have to...!"

"Nope, but I'm glad you did. Saved me from having to..."

At that moment Yoko walked toward his room and Hikari walked toward hers with her head down. Kuronue and Rei looked at each other before each one followed their friend out of the room.

Rei found Hikari lying on her bed, face down. She was crying.

"Hikari...Are you okay? What happened?" Rei had never seen Hikari cry before. She was really worried about her.

Hikari sat up and faced Rei. She wiped her face and forced herself to smile. "Like I said before, there's no way he would like me." She laughed, but it wasn't a happy laugh. "So, how'd it work out for you?"

"Yoko didn't...He didn't..."

"Hey...me and you both knew what he would say. It was a long shot anyway. There's no way on Earth he would even consider someone like me."

"Hikari...I..."

"Enough about me. Okay? What about you? What happened with you two? What did he say?"

Hikari obviously didn't want to talk about it so Rei showed her the pendant. She stared at it, wide-eyed.

"What is it?" She picked it up for a closer look."It's warm."

"Kuronue said it has some of his powers in it or something...the bat moves. Do you see it?"

"Wow. He put some work into that. I didn't know he had it in him. So, what's it mean? You two get together?"

Rei nodded. "I think so..."

"That's my Rei!" She grabbed Rei in a hug.

Rei was glad Hikari was feeling better. She danced around singing, "Rei's got a boyfriend. Rei's got a boyfriend.", locking arms with Fuyu. After a while, she had danced so much that she collapsed on the bed laughing.

"I really am happy for you Rei." She smiled. "But now, it's time for bed."

"I know..." Rei got up and walked to the door. Before she walked out she turned and said, "Thanks, Hikari."

When Rei left, Hikari felt the tears coming back. She hadn't cried since her parents had died when she was a little girl. She didn't like the feeling but for some reason, she couldn't stop it. She stared up at the ceiling and sighed as a tear slid down her cheek.

Fuyu sat across the room on his bed watching her. She looked so sad and there was nothing he could do. Hikari was like an older sister or a mom to him and he couldn't ctand to see her like this. He sat on her bed beside her.

"Hikari...Are you gonna be okay?" He touched her hand.

"Oh, Fuyu..." She wrapped her arms around him and started to cry. He sat there holding her until she cried herself to sleep. He laid her back into her bed carefully and pulled the blanket up aound her. There was nothing he could do to fix this. He would just have to be there for her. And that's exactly what he was planning to do.

"I promise I'll be right here."

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Meh. Not my best chapter. Oh and sorry I'm not too good at the romantic scenes. -sweatdrops- I'll try to make 'em better from now on...but I'm not making any promises.


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